In a conventional power supplying apparatus for a vehicle, a power supply carried on the vehicle and each of several electric loads are connected to each other by a long power supply line with a fuse interposed therein. When a power supply line is short-circuited, the fuse is blown to disconnect the electric load from the power supply.
In control of electric loads of a conventional vehicle, a so-called multiplexing wiring system is known wherein controllers for individually controlling a plurality of electric loads are integrated into a smaller number of controllers having a communication function and a calculation function so that control signals for the electric loads are calculated by the smaller number of controllers and the control signals are transmitted to terminal equipment connected by communication lines to control several electric loads connected to each of the terminal equipment (refer to, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,771,382, 5,113,410, 4,855,896 and 5,438,506).
However, power supply lines are usually wired from a power supply directly to individual electric loads or to driving circuits for the electric loads, and the number of power supply lines is equal to or larger than the number of electric loads. Thus, and the floor or the inside of the body of a vehicle is full of wiring lines.
Accordingly, basically it is a principle object of the present invention to provide a novel power supplying apparatus for a vehicle. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to reduce power supply lines of a power supplying apparatus for a vehicle. It is another object of the present invention to eliminate a fuse. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel power supplying method. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a novel semiconductor circuit apparatus for use for in supplying power. It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide a novel intensive wiring apparatus integrated with a power supply control system. It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide a novel power supplying apparatus for a particular electric load of an automobile. It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus for detecting short-circuits in a power supply line. The objects recited above are solved by different solutions disclosed hereinbelow or in the appended claims.